AMBER LOVE 14-DEC-2020 This work is supported by the generous backers who adore my cat stories at Patreon.com/amberunmasked and they also get first access to what’s happening with my books and podcast.
Where We Left Off:
We discovered suspicious arson activity in Bunny Hollow and had to find out what happened.
I Love Trouble:
We have some very #ohgus moments to talk about. Yes, it means Gus going Hulk on another one of our critter friends. This time it’s about Gus and his relationship with Chipcent Donofrio. This case file comes with many photos documenting the good and bad times with the chipmunks of Bunny Hollow.
October 23, 2020 was after Gus and Oliver had their massively traumatic fight outside. I couldn’t get Oliver to go in buggy at all, but he kept going to the back door like he wanted to run out the way Gus does. But even Gus is supposed to wear his proper adventure gear. Gus knew something was wrong too. The first day we tried to go out without Ollie, Gus was out of sorts emotionally. He spent half of his outside on the back porch looking for Ollie.
The main distraction for Gus was looking for members of the Chipmunk Mafia. He didn’t even have to. He just likes to harass and abuse them. He’s such a bully to everyone. Well, everyone except that fuzzy dog creature who has visited.
Gus found Chipcent Donofrio by the Bunny Hollow bypass at the boulder. It was still warm enough that when I put out peanuts for the birds, the chipmunks would occasionally show up to gather some too. These are the last times we saw the chipmunks before they went to hibernate and it was a rough time for them.
In one patrol shift, Gus caught Chipcent three times! He was too squirmy for a proper relocation and ended up running to the fairy garden and finding an entrance to the burrows there. I don’t understand how Chipcent kept getting caught and why he wouldn’t let me save him properly. Maybe it was because collecting the peanuts in October and November is so critical for the rodents.
After a couple of weeks, The Cook was able to place Oliver in his buggy for The Butler to take him out on patrols and bird feeding chores again. She has to now resort to picking him up which he doesn’t let anyone else do and putting him in. This is why I am so upset about the whole situation. Oliver always eagerly jumped into his strollers sometimes as soon as I got out of bed because he wanted his adventure time. At least, he was eventually able to rejoin our patrols and supervise from the safety of his enclosed buggy.
Gus found Chipcent again and ran away with him on a November day! This poor little bugger. After that capture, I think Chipcent started to send Munka Kelly to get the peanuts instead. I took a bunch of pictures of a chipmunk who showed up. I compared what I had of the Gus capture photos and noted a couple differences. The second chipmunk, presumably Munka Kelly, has a very dark triangle above her nose. She also didn’t have the scar across her head with missing fur. I was worried that the nose marking was a scab and that Gus had attacked two different chipmunks, but I looked at chipmunks on Instagram (@vangoghthechippy @bikke_the_chip) who are pets and have great close up videos; and I enlarged these photos and could tell that it was not an injured snout.
Ollie was still pretty mad about the trauma he endured. He was not interested in working with Gus even though it was all my fault they had the fight. I gave Ollie a lot of access to catnip for medicinal reasons. Once he was calm, I was able to have a proper conversation with him about the Chipmunk Mafia and Gus’ aggressive behavior. In his esteemed opinion, Gus was being opportunistic since the chipmunks were out looking to gather their peanuts before hibernation.
Our suspicions about Chipcent Donofrio wanting to oust Cheeks Moretti and take over the entire organization is still valid, but looks like it will be on hold until spring. We haven’t seen Cheeks since the end of September. I have a terrible notion that all the construction he was overseeing may have resulted in his untimely demise. Only time will tell. I’ll try to remain positive about it until next spring.
Case Findings:
Gus was behaving normally for him. He’s usually aggressive towards others and was hired specifically to find and capture trespassing critters. Chipcent and Munka were last seen alive at Garter Snake Ridge bordering Bunny Hollow.
Case Status: Closed for now.
